While the City's layout was traditional for its category, with front-wheel drive and a transversely mounted engine, its relatively upright seating arrangement was innovative, creating legroom comparable to larger cars.

[2] In spite of the creativity and novelty of its design, the City was narrowly pipped for the Japanese motoring journalists' Car Of The Year Award by the luxurious Toyota Soarer.

Designed by Pininfarina and introduced in August 1984, the drop-top Cabriolet utilized the wider track, fenders, and bigger bumpers of the Turbo II, but was only normally available with the naturally aspirated 67 PS (49 kW) engine.

Naturally aspirated engines in the AA Citys also gained new fiber-reinforced metal (FRM) cylinder liners, a world first in series production.

One month later, the R became available with the "Hypershift" transmission, a four-speed with an electronically controlled overdrive added to the second, third, and fourth gears - in essence creating a 7-speed gearbox.

[5] The City was also sold in Australia (in two-seater van form, to circumvent Australian import restrictions and design regulations on passenger vehicles at the time) and New Zealand (where it was locally assembled).

In the early 1980s, Mugen was a small tuning company that was beginning to garner a reputation producing performance parts for motorcycles and automobiles, but had yet to gain recognition outside of racing circles.

When he created the City Turbo, Hirotoshi took one of Honda's most unassuming vehicles and successfully turned it into an aggressive street rocket, considered to be well ahead of its time.

A few months earlier, Honda staffers took two City Turbos on a gruelling 10,000-kilometre (6,200 mi) round trip of Europe, all the way from Sicily to Karasjok in the Arctic north.

Flared fenders, side skirts and graphics combined for a much more pugnacious appearance, complementing its "Bulldog" nickname.

When combined with Honda's PGM-FI manifold injection and an 8-bit digital control unit, the result was a very efficient engine with minimal turbo lag.

The body of the Honda City Turbo was made sportier by the addition of a new air dam with fog lights and an asymmetrical grille, and a small spoiler at the top/rear of the car.